Double Good Everything
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Double Good Everything
| type = studio
| artist = Smokey Robinson
| cover = Double Good Everything.jpg|border=yes
| alt =
| released = 1991
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio = *Rumbo, Canoga Park
- Lion Share, Los Angeles
- A&M, Hollywood
- Westlake, Los Angeles
| length =
| label = SBK{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/smokey-robinson-mn0000821571/biography|title=Smokey Robinson Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}
| producer = Smokey Robinson
| prev_title = Love, Smokey
| prev_year = 1990
| next_title = The Ultimate Collection
| next_year = 1997
}}
Double Good Everything is an album by the American musician Smokey Robinson, released in 1991.{{cite magazine |title=Jet's Top 20 Albums |magazine=Jet |date=Dec 16, 1991 |volume=81 |issue=9 |page=62}}{{cite news |last1=Britt |first1=Bruce |title=Rock News & Notes |work=Los Angeles Daily News |date=October 4, 1991 |page=L28}} It was his first album to be released by a label other than Motown.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/article/smokey-robinson-interview-life-legacy.html|title=Let Smokey Robinson Tell You About Changing Music|first=Craig|last=Jenkins|date=November 19, 2020|website=Vulture}}
The album peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/smokey-robinson/|title=Smokey Robinson|magazine=Billboard}} Its first single was "Double Good Everything", which failed to make the R&B Top 20.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_IyT35pJCgC&pg=PT110|title=80s Chart-Toppers: Every Chart-Topper Tells a Story|first=Sharon|last=Davis|date=January 6, 2012|publisher=Random House| isbn=9781780574110}}
Production
Nine of Double Good Everything's 10 tracks were written or cowritten by Robinson, who also produced the album.{{cite news |last1=Ford |first1=Lynn Dean |title=Record Reviews |work=The Indianapolis Star |date=27 Dec 1991 |page=C6}}{{cite news |last1=Heim |first1=Chris |title=A crowd-pleaser, a pro: Smokey Robinson still in fine form |work=Chicago Tribune |date=29 May 1992 |department=Friday |page=M}} "When a Woman Cries" was written by Joshua Kadison.{{cite news |last1=Simms |first1=Greg |title=Recordings on Review |work=Dayton Daily News |date=December 6, 1991 |department=Go! |page=19}} Robinson worked with his longtime friend, guitar player Marv Tarplin.{{cite news |last1=Jaeger |first1=Barbara |title=Renewed Blaze from Old Fires |work=The Record |date=December 12, 1991 |page=C22}}
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|2|5}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/double-good-everything-mw0000269151|title=Double Good Everything|website=AllMusic}}
|rev2 = The Buffalo News
|rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite news |last1=Allen |first1=Carl |title=In Brief |work=The Buffalo News |date=December 6, 1991 |page=G36}}
|rev3 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev3score = {{rating|2|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2006 |publisher=MUZE |volume=7 |page=74}}
|rev4 = Entertainment Weekly
|rev5 = MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide
|rev5score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite book |title=MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide |date=1998 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=481}}
|rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
|rev6score = {{rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=595}}
}}
Entertainment Weekly called the album "no watershed, just sweet, warm Smokey doing his bit for romantic drive-time inspiration, more courtly than salacious, and slightly teenage in his depictions of love." Stereo Review concluded that "the unifying thread is Robinson's singular voice—almost delicate but unmistakably masculine in its high register, marked by an eternal edge of youthful anticipation."{{cite magazine |last1=Garland |first1=Phyl |title=Popular Music — Double Good Everything by Smokey Robinson |magazine=Stereo Review |date=Mar 1992 |volume=57 |issue=3 |page=74}} The Kitchener-Waterloo Record opined that, "except for 'Skid Row' and 'When a Woman Cries', Robinson sounds almost uninterested."{{cite news |title=Double Good Everything Smokey Robinson |work=Kitchener-Waterloo Record |date=28 Nov 1991 |page=C9}} The Buffalo News wrote that, "though the peaks of his voice may be gone, the gentle emotive stirring is still there."
The Indianapolis Star thought that Robinson's "excellent vocals are underscored by superb instrumentals, particularly on the intimate 'I Love Your Face' and the sashaying 'Rewind' and 'Be Who You Are'." The New Pittsburgh Courier deemed the album "10 new pop/soul gems that are remarkable for retaining the 'Smokey' touch while feeling perfectly contemporary."{{cite news |title=Smokey Robinson: 'I'm Truly a Blessed Man' |work=New Pittsburgh Courier |date=12 Oct 1991 |volume=82 |issue=81 |page=P.B-2}} The Philadelphia Daily News labeled it Robinson's "strongest in years."{{cite news |last1=Takiff |first1=Jonathan |title=Sweet Soul Music |work=Philadelphia Daily News |date=16 Dec 1991 |department=Features Yo! |page=39}} The Commercial Appeal considered that "Robinson's falsetto is as sweet as ever, as he mixes in a bit of reggae in 'Why', joyously assays the uptempo pop-soul of the title track or croons 'Be Who You Are', a love song that hearkens back to his classic Motown days."{{cite news |last1=Nager |first1=Larry |title=Recordings |work=The Commercial Appeal |date=November 22, 1991 |page=E19}}
AllMusic wrote: "Though pleasant and inoffensive, this will disappoint even diehard Smokey Robinson fans and won't win him many new ones."
Track listing
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Smokey Robinson; except where noted
| title1 = Why
| length1 = 3:55
| title2 = Double Good Everything
| length2 = 3:48
| title3 = Rewind
| length3 = 3:43
| title4 = Be Who You Are
| length4 = 4:33
| title5 = I Love Your Face
| length5 = 2:34
| title6 = I Can't Get Enough
| length6 = 4:19
| title7 = Rack Me Back
| length7 = 4:06
| title8 = When a Woman Cries
| writer8 = Joshua Kadison
| length8 = 3:31
| title9 = You Take Me Away
| length9 = 3:55
| title10 = Skid Row
| writer10 = Smokey Robinson, Marvin Tarplin
| length10 = 4:23
| total_length =
}}
Personnel
- Smokey Robinson – vocals
- Christopher Ho – keyboards
- Reginald "Sonny" Burke – acoustic piano, percussion
- Larry Ball – synthesizers, computers, sequencing, bass guitar
- Bob "Boogie" Bowles – acoustic guitars, electric guitars
- Marvin Tarplin – electric guitars
- Torrell Ruffin – guitars (3)
- Robert Palmer – guitar solo (4)
- Tony Lewis – drums, percussion
- David Li – saxophones, electronic wind instrument
- Chris Mostert – baritone saxophone (6), tenor saxophone (9)
- Michael Fell – harmonica (7)
- Ivory Stone – backing vocals
- Patricia Henley – backing vocals
- Robert Henley – backing vocals
- Ronald Henley – backing vocals
Strings (Tracks 5 & 8)
- Reginald "Sonny" Burke – arrangements and conductor
- Ron Clark – concertmaster
- Suzie Katayama, David Low and Nancy K. Masaki-Hathaway – cello
- Elizabeth Erman – harp (5)
- Rollice Dale and Robin Ross – viola
- Nicole Bush, Mark Cargill, Pam Gates, Ed Green, Davida Johnson, Gina Kronstadt, Maria Newman, Donald Palmer, Barbra Porter and Marcella Schants – violin
= Production =
- Smokey Robinson – producer, basic arrangements, cover design
- Dan Bates – associate producer, recording, mixing
- Allan Kaufman – associate producer, recording, mixing
- Guy DeFazio – recording assistant
- Chris Fogel – recording assistant, mix assistant
- Jesse Kanner – recording assistant
- Ed Korengo – recording assistant
- Chad Munsey – recording assistant
- Tom Perez – recording assistant
- Mark Hagen – mix assistant
- Bernie Grundman – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California)
- Lynn Robb – photography processing
- Bonnie Schiffman – photography